City of Demons

Chronicles of Arcana #1

by Debbie Cassidy

A city filled with monsters needs a dark avenger, and Wilomena Bastion is just the gal for the job.

Dragons suck, like literally suck the life out of you if you let them. Trick is not to look them directly in the eyes, like ever. So, the day Wila finds herself staring into the most dangerous Draconi’s pretty, emerald peepers, she knows she’s royally fucked.

No one said saving a bunch of kids from being served up as treats to the dragon liege was going to be easy. Options are limited—immediate execution or servitude, and Wila prefers to have her head remain firmly on her shoulders.

Now, the self-professed dark avenger must work to bring down a resistance of demons hell-bent on making life difficult for the dragon liege. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, her new position comes with a partner, the dragon liege’s favoured demon enforcer; a creature of fire, fury and washboard abs who—let’s face it—is just gonna cramp her style.

With the help of a ghostly receptionist, a talking dog and the thing that lives in the basement, Wila will be forced to take on a most dangerous task. Add a dragon prince, a sexy troll blood and a billionaire mage into the mix, and things are about to get even more complicated. It looks like some serious brooding is on the menu, because for the first time in forever, Wila isn’t sure she’s up to the job.

A kick-ass Urban Fantasy with a slow burn Whychoose Romance

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Dragons, Demons, Magic, Romance

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2018

About the author

Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head. She writes Urban Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy and Reverse Harem Fantasy. All her books contain plenty of action, romance and twisty plots.

Connect with Debbie via her website at https://debbiecassidyauthor.com, email her at debbiecassidyauthor@gmail.com or check her out on twitter https://twitter.com/authordcassidy Sign up to her newsletter to grab a free short story, and stay up to date on new releases: http://www.subscribepage.com/f6u2k8 Or join her reader group on Facebook to stay in the know: https://www.facebook.com/groups/17595...

Reviews

[Marguerite (M) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars

I received an ARC from the awesome Debbie Cassidy and read it almost right away. Unfortunately I didn't have much connexion for a while, as you most know i was away on a backpacking trip and i deeply apologize to the author to not have posted any rating or review earlier.

City of Demons was a really good start to this new series and once again, I was pulled in the universe and by the characters.
Debbie Cassidy has the utmost strength of creating incredibly charistmatic characters. The story could be awful, badly written or plain nonsense it would not matter; the characters make you want to read more and just never see the end of the book.
Fortunately, everything else is greatly enjoyable. There is world building, action, mystery and everything you want to have in a book.

I didn't get enough of her last series, the Chronicles of Midnight, which I seriously adored. The Chronicles of Arcana are definitely my currently most looking forward series.

Thank you Debbie Cassidy for providing me this ARC and very sorry again for the delay~

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

❇ Read for the Unleash The Mods™ Challenge (UTM™) over at Fallen Into Tijan Books -- Pick: Maraya | Month: October 2018 ❇


#2. City Of The Lost ★★★★½
#3. City Of Everdark ★★★
#4. City Of War ★★



4.5 Stars


GOD.

DAYMN.





Damn straight this was fucking amazing!

I loved Willa so much! Second Willa I encounter and absolutely love.

The story is super well written: straightforward and simple. Characters are awesome, not censored within an inch of its life swearing ('nuff said). Action & sarcasm & awesomeness.

I am rambling this was so good!

I was like




While




And then




Get the fuck out of my way, I #NEED Book #2 STAT!








••• Pre-Review Thingy •••

I knew I needed this after the first sentence. Needy McNeedrson agreed with me.

#NEED #NEED #NEED #NEED #NEED

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize, once again that this was a reverse harem book, which are not my thing. Having said that though, this wasn't a bad read at all (maybe because it didn't get into the reverse harem thing yet?). I kind of want to continue the series because I do like this author's writing style. Does anyone know if she writes anything other than reverse harems?

[★Me Myshelf and I★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Release day and available on Kindle Unlimited
https://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Demons-...

ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ
┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ˚✩ ⋆｡˚ ✩
┊ ┊ ┊ ✫
┊ ┊ ✩
┊ ⊹ ✯
✯

There's a lot to process here.

Based in the same world as the Chronicles of Midnight, Arcana is a city with only paranormal residents. Its not necessary to have read CoM though as it is a completely separate series and city (it will only give you a leg up on the history of the nephs and black wings etc)

Wila is a classic UF Heroine
✓Snarky attitude with no filter between brain and mouth
✓Private investigator who works alone (or thinks she does but in reality relies on her contacts and friendly house Ghost/taking dog)
✓Orphan who doesn't know her true lineage
✓Weaponry with a mind of its own.
✓Leather and lots of it

If that's your idea of heaven then you will really enjoy this

We've seen this recipe done before (ok maybe not the talking Pomeranian) but it still works for UF and Wilma is a great character

added bonus she like her tea of out of a china cup - now that's a Heroine I can get behind she obviously has sense


However she isn't as kickass as she thinks she is and ends up being saved by the males more often than I'd like. Her main superpower seems to be the ability to have a witty comeback and get herself into trouble at every turn.



Freeing a group of orphans from the local Dragons lair has ended up with her working for the evil Dragon queen and shackled with a hot Shedim as a partner to locate some rouge Shedim for the Queen.



The romance is slow burn much to my frustration and Wila seems to live in a world where all the guys are hot and she is the only female around. I count 7 to 8 potential harem members by the end of the book! Some have a great big question mark over them and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with them. They all have potential and Alpha tendencies

Not least being the set of twin trolls, yes I said twin trolls!




Once you get past the info dumping in the first 20% its a great read and I'm looking forward to more. I would like a little more ass-kicking in the next book from Wila and some of the relationships to solidify but a great start

ARC received

[Denisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
A fun, really fun series, but unfortunately, like most of Debbie Cassidy's novels, the ending was rushed.


Still, it's definitely worth reading. She's a great author, everything I've ever read by her was fun and exciting, but I can rarely go with over a 3-star rating because of the rushed feeling I get most of the time.

[Amara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who is she talking to behind that door?

And why won't he tell her what he is? Why doesn't she just let him out and see for herself?

This series has all the potential to be epic and awesome and all that and a bag of chips or whatever, lol.

I really like Wila. I really like Azren, Valance, and Adam... Trevor and Gilbert too. And the hound? What happened? Those two trolls? Yum... sounds like trouble. Count me in!

So looking forward to the next book! Great author and great series!

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was some really good stuff in this book, so let's dive straight into it.

City of Demons introduces us to one Wilomena Bastion, popularly known as Wila, who is - like EVERY SINGLE URBAN FANTASY HEROINE IN EXISTENCE - a private investigator. You can't really blame Debbie Cassidy for not reinventing the wheel here, though. There's a reason all the heroines in this genre are PIs: namely, it gives us some great drama, which we immediately get here when Wila volunteers to rescue a group of children from dragons who intend to eat them. Although she survives, she has to make a devil's bargain with the evil dragon queen to avoid being ripped into several million pieces. The tension is kept ratcheted high for most of the book and the pacing works well.

Wila is a great character. She's hilariously witty, reluctantly warm-hearted, and in general a very three-dimensional narrator. Her conversations with her sarcastic pet dog Trevor are LIFE. Her harem's pretty good too, although it is definitely a slow burn - nothing beyond teasing flirtation in this book. The men all have defined personalities and their own strengths and weaknesses.

My biggest gripe was that the world here is very confusing. Rifts? Black Walkers? Others? All these terms were just thrown at us with minimal explanation. Even having read most of the Chronicles of Midnight, this series' immediate predecessor, I was extremely confused. In the end I just gave up on trying to understand and went along for the ride.

Blog - The Literary Invertebrate

[Rhiannon Chillingworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough the do a Beta read of this and I absolutely loved it. I was a huge fan of the author's previous Chronicles of Midnight series and I think I'm going to like this even more.

One of the things I loved the most about CoM is what a great Urban Fantasy series it was, as UF is my first love and favourite genre. Well City of Demons is even more UF than CoM.

If you love UF, but want a slow burn Reverse Harem as a delicious side dish, then I can't see how you'll not enjoy this.

Willamina is tough and snarky, but doesn't take herself too seriously, and I found myself enjoying her character straight away. Her living situation is helarious as well, considering she lives with a ghost, a talking dog (which was once a human) and a mystery Voice under the stairs, who came with the house and she's too afraid to let out, despite him being her sounding board and someone she goes to to vent and for advice. I have big hopes for him and it's helarious that the Voice is one of my favourite favourite characters.

The male characters are varied and distinct from one another. You have a Shazim (sort of a demon, who looks human when he wants), a dragon Prince, a sorcerer and Troll twins (although sadly one of them seemed to be strictly platonic).

The world is linked to CoM, but it's not necessary to have read the series to understand it. There are pockets of magic around the world and only Neph's (supernatural creatures) can live in them. Part of these are ruled by the dragon shifters and part by the Arcana, which is basically the sorcerers and witches.

If you enjoyed the author's previous series, or are an UF fan, then you can't go wrong here!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m getting burned out with the Reverse Harem genre because so many of them are subpar. What makes it worth the hunt is finding the rare one that works so well and shines as a new favorite. This is one of them, although my enjoyment of the series starts the dwindle with future sequels.

This one is fun. I loved the main character’s humor blended in with her independence, but also her compassion. She’s not truly tough-girl chick mode, although she’s still tough, but it was more realistic. The Draconian race showed it’s disgusting, dark side although Valencia intrigues.

The lead-up there was both nerve-wracking and hilarious. Beware, there be dragons.

At this point I'm not sure who the harem will be - I'm definitely eyeing at least three of them. I love her dog and the "ghost", and how she values her tea by making sure to sip out of ceramic cups properly. Toss in what the hell is the voice behind that door????

The story is slow-burn romance, and romance is not even in the picture yet - we do have layered plots, layered mysteries, surprise twists, great friends, and intriguing characters. Win!

[Tiera McMillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. This book was really entertaining. So many times you find a snarky bad A heroine and she spends a lot of time inner monologuing or something that causes an almost split personality. Not here though what you see is what you get! Just the blurb itself had me tickled so I knew there would be some humor involved and this book surely delivers.

I believe we have really only skimmed the surface of what is happening here. Not much backstory about the world. It seems we are in an alternate dimension of sorts for magical creatures, humans themselves having their own dimension and more exist. As far as I can gather there are main races of magical beings and then there are the neph she mentions they are descended from “black wings” or fallen angels, so the shortened name makes sense, however they seem to be at the bottom of society. But there really isn’t much more info on how we have arrived at this point.

Willa gets herself in some deep doodoo right off the bat, and though she handles herself pretty well I’m still unsure exactly what kind of supernatural she is. One things for certain she doesn’t take any crap from anyone, and has no filter! Definitely gonna hang with this series for a bit and see what’s happening!

[Piya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly - Gorgeous cover.

I loved the first two chapters.
- The MC is a great character - her reactions are normal and not contradictory to her personality (except for when it comes to men).
- The other character were very intriguing and some, lovable.
- The world building was well done with numerous elements to keep it interesting.

Then it went downhill from there.
- When she actually starts "investigating" (she is sort of a PI), I realized she was going to figure things out not by being smart or experienced, but by pure luck. That REALLY put me off. She's supposed to be really good at her job. Having seen her methods I find that very hard to believe.
- There's a bit of instalove. I hate that. I prefer the slowburn which comes with at least a little bit of history or shared experience.
- She's a bit of Mary Sue when it comes to men. They all proposition her. Seriously I can think of at least 4 men who wanted to get into her pants at one point or other. I'm sure there were more.

Conclusion
- I wish I could read this book with the same setting and characters (it and they were perfect), but with a different, better plot.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I have read by this author and I really, really enjoyed. It had hints of my favorite urban fantasy/paranormal TV shows like Buffy or Angel, which a kick-butt heroine and a collection of characters she works with to investigate and take down paranormal creatures or problems in her town. It has humor, action and a good reverse harem slow burn - it fulfills some of those fantasies of wishing some of our favorite TV heroines wouldn't have had to choose (again, Buffy or True Blood). I'm glad I'm late to the party because that means I can dive into book two right away.
4.5 ⭐️

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book has potential, and I'm down to read the next few.

Also, I'm wondering who will actually end up in the harem bc there are so many options at this point!

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I know I've read this book before but either I've forgotten to mark it as read or GR is playing mind games with me. Either way I found that while I've read the first and possibly second book in this series I most certainly haven't read the third and fourth. So it was a good thing I did so now because let me tell you this series is worth it.

Wilomena Bastion is refreshingly sarcastic with a potty mouth to boot and funny as hell. The world building is interesting what with dragons called the Draconi and the Shedim who as far as I can tell are djinn like and of course the nephlims, ghosts and talking abominations.

Now reverse harem is totally my jam and I love a slow burn and there isn't any insta love going on here so this is definitely going on a short list of RH favorites.

Now I just need to find another slow burn UBF RH series to help with my withdrawals.

[MichelleG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diverse and interesting magical world

Debbie has created what appears to be a great start to a diverse magical series. I am intrigued and looking forward to continuing with the story.

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing about Debbie Cassidy, she knows how to build worlds, how to entertain, and how to write a sassy likeable heroine. That's three things but *shrugs* 4 stars!!!

[Katyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a really long time to get into this, and I can't really figure out why. I liked the main character ... I guess I just feel like I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know much about the world, or the other characters, or really the organization. It made it difficult to invest in anything, emotionally.

[Iretsia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, and I'm excited for the sequel. The MC is just the kind of MC I like: mouthy and kick-ass, though it's unclear how much ass she could actually kick without her magic weapon that seems to do all the work for her. Speaking of that weapon, it seemed to just keep gaining powers, like "by the way it can do this too." It would have been nice if all of the weapon's powers were mentioned when it was first introduced or used because its powers seemed like a convenient afterthought, and it was almost getting comical when new ones kept getting mentioned.

As for the harem, this is definitely a slow burn. There's a lot of sexual tension, but no one really makes a move in this book. I'm not even entirely sure who all will be in the harem, though I've got my eye on at least 5, maybe 6, of the characters. I hope Mack stays out of her harem because it would be nice for the MC in an RH book to, for once, have a close relationship with a non-family man without jumping into a relationship with him. Just because the genre is based on relationships with multiple men doesn't mean that the MC needs to have a relationship with EVERY man.

[Saint Fitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless Debbie Cassidy. This series starter makes me all kind of hopeful for more and more good stuff. I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 because the world building at first was a bit confusing. I know she was (probably) trying to “show” rather than tell”—and truly, long explanations of how things work are a total snooze. HOWEVER, I wish there were just a *touch* more explaining in the beginning to help me understand the universe. For example, there were references to Black Wings and the Others and Nephs and Plebs and now I’m confused. It took about 50% of the book to get it all sorted, which is a bummer when you’re also trying to get your rocks off on some serious sizzle between characters.

I love the diversity of character types—a talking cursed dog detective? A ghost / cook / caretaker? A mysterious voice locked in the basement? THEN....a snobby Arcana, a dragon, and a demon. I LOVE it all. I love the sense of humor—shit-your-pants jokes had me in stitches. I have high, high hopes for this series, so I’m really hoping it doesn’t disappoint!

Sidebar: I also like this series SO MUCH BETTER than Chronicles of Midnight.

[Natalie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked from the talking dog and the ghost. So far I like this story more than the midnight series, more mystery, questions and the harem isn’t all in one place.

I like Wila, most of the time she causes her own problems but she acknowledges her flaws and weaknesses. So hopefully that means no over the top recklessness or mistakes further down the line.

The guys are interesting and vary in huge ways. Pretty much a supernatural buffet. Felt sorry for Tay, Adam and Val are pretty much there at the moment. The main ones that stood out was Azren and Lex. Defo wanna learn more about him. Possible hound?

Of course the biggest question and interest is the identity of Gilbert and the thing in the basement. I’m loving this one.

[Bec · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story really needs more fleshing out and the heroine is not real bright...

[vee · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 11%

I had really high hopes for this book, but it just wasn’t working for me

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (5/20/2020)! 🎁

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

CITY OF DEMONS was a great start to a new series by Debbie Cassidy.

I love a strong, snarky protagonist and Wila fit the bill. There is a lot of mystery surrounding her, but I had no issue with liking her. I enjoyed her job as an investigator and I enjoyed learning about her housemates. I'm very interested to learn more about Wila as she learns more about herself.

When the author says this is slow burn reverse harem romance, she isn't exaggerating. It was so slow it's frustrating. There is a lot of romantic tension all over the place and no action. It might be torture waiting, but I'm hopeful that it will be great when it does. I also hope that there isn't a crap load of men in the harem because there are a lot of possibilities and it might be a bit much if they all end up in her bed.

With the little information we got, I enjoyed the world so far. There seems to be a lot to it with a lot of players involved. It will take a bit to really understand it all, but I look forward to learning more with book two.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Betteroffwithbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

City of demons

This book hooked me from the beginning. Wila is a force to be reckoned with and a huge bad ass. Azren is an enigma, Valance is a jerk, Adam is mysterious and Taylem is the big teddy bear that you can’t help but love. I can’t wait to see which of these men end up as part of Wila’s harem. How will she hunt down the Shedim? Who is the voice in the basement? Does Wila have any secret powers? I have so many questions! So excited for the next book.

[Ada · Rating 2 out of 5]

City of Demons was a book of vague storyline with a dash of stereotypical so called bold with no filter mouth of a heroine that just ends up irritating me and puts me off the book even more. Not gonna lie, this book was a task to finish. I just couldn't care about anything. I found it surprising how much I was bored reading this book as compared to the Chronicles of Midnight series.

Some characters are totally interesting. The ghost dude, the basement voice, Azren or Valance, take your pick. I just felt the main field playing characters like the Shedims or Draconi had very little details added to them. Whatever we are told about them is given out in a disjointed random manner and always felt like it's vague as shit as if we know everything already. The whole world building in fact suffers from this random vague vibe so much that it fails at creating an immersive experience to make me want to read the next book. It's not like it wasn't interesting but it's just not executed well.

Wila was what kept me wanting to put this book down. She is an investigator, so good that her friend keeps trying to get her to join the official dudes but whatever that is shown in this book is the opposite. She goes in the very dangerous territory of Draconi with absolutely no plan. Excuse me? This is the shit I hate about the stereotypical I'm-such-a-badass heroines. She "figures out along way" what her plan will be. She just flaps around until something happens, that's her theme.

This is going to be a reverse harem but honestly it was so meh. I know it's slow burn but man, I just couldn't feel the chemistry naturally unless we are told about it. I just need some hook enough to keep on reading even if it's a slow burn and this book lacks that hook (for me). The thing with Tay is all words, the weird insta whatever with Azren that has Wila acting like a dumb bitch or Adam Noir thing that felt like it's there more for convenience.

I can't believe I had to force myself to finish this book despite starting off with a positive outlook. I hadn't hit a dud with this author until this series but hopefully it's not gonna become a trend.

[Aira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the book, but I was shocked when I got to the end, almost felt like we were just about to get to the mystery after setting up all the plot points

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one. Wila was a fantastic protagonist, as were the supporting characters. Onto book #2!

[Gail Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked out with kindle unlimited, December 2023.

[rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another urban fantasy story with private investigator fmc that has made working alone and wearing a leather jacket her entire personality.